


one two buckle my shoe

by Fushigi Kismet (tokyofish), tokyofish



Series: Other Side of Ordinary [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: AU, Contest Winner, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-28
Updated: 2006-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 05:52:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2013528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokyofish/pseuds/Fushigi%20Kismet, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokyofish/pseuds/tokyofish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichigo tries to figure out how to respond to a confession of love. Rukia tries to figure out how to react to Ichigo trying to figure out how to respond to a confession of love. Karakura High eats popcorn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	one two buckle my shoe

**Author's Note:**

> Bleach is © Kubo Tite, Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, Shueisha, etc. This is a nonprofit fanwork.
> 
> Takes place in alternate storyline that branches off from canon post-Chapter 181. Kon is now living with Urahara.

"I love you, Kurosaki-kun."

He stood perfectly still and stared, wide-eyed. The wind blew through the long grasses around them and sent her skirt swaying, her hair flying about. Orihime pushed back a lock of her long, reddish brown hair behind one ear then raised her eyes to meet his. Her expression was steadfast and clear.

"I want to be . . . the one by your side."

 

It was only fair, Orihime confided in Tatsuki later, to wait until Kuchiki-san had returned.

Fair to who? Tatsuki had wanted to demand, but she knew the answer already. Orihime was always looking out for everyone but herself.

 

News traveled fast. By the next day it was all over school that Inoue Orihime had confessed to Kurosaki Ichigo over the weekend. He had no idea how anyone _knew_ , goddammit, but there it was. 

His first inkling of what that meant, exactly, was being beset upon by Mizuiro and Keigo and dragged to a lonely corner of campus (by the gym equipment shed) as soon as he set foot inside their homeroom.

"Ichigo!" Mizuiro said a little _too_ emphatically. What the hell? Since when had his shorter friend possessed the ability to look like he was LOOMING over him?!

"W-What?" He backed a step away, only to bump into Keigo's elbow.

"You!" Keigo said, grinning, prodding him in the side again and again. "You, you!"

"Eh?" Ichigo said starting to get just a little freaked out. "What the hell's the matter with _you_?!"

"I-nou-e O-ri-hi-me!" Keigo said, drawing out each syllable.

"How'd _that_ happen?" Mizuiro added, bemused. "I was beginning to wonder if you even knew what a girl _was_."

"We need details, man! Details!"

Ichigo made a face. "There's nothing to tell."

"What about Kuchiki-san?" Mizuiro asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think you're quite at the level where you can try and juggle them both both. But if you want some pointers I ca-"

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU-"

"Yeah, yeah," Keigo said, flapping a hand in annoyance. "Nothing's going on with Kuchiki. Which is why I want to know what's going on with INOUE! Come on, Ichigo! We're friends, aren't we?! You can tell MEEEE!"

Ichigo planted a hand in his face just as Keigo made a dive for him and pushed past him to catch up with Chad who was walking past. "Chad!"

His friend stopped and waited for Ichigo to catch up, dragging Keigo, who was clutching at his legs halfway, there before finally managing to ditch him. Silently, he took note of Keigo kneeling with his hand outstretched towards Ichigo as he wailed something about "DETAILS!" and Mizuiro shaking his head and heading back to class on his own.

Ichigo bent over, hands on his thighs, and took a few shallow breaths after his sprint. Keigo was heavy and his fingers were like claws. "Man, Chad, you would NOT believe the day I've been having! What is WRONG with everybody?!"

Chad's expression didn't change but he said, "So I hear Inoue-san confessed?"

Ichigo hung his head. "Not you too."

 

Rukia was sitting with her normal composure at her desk in homeroom, her bag and books neatly arranged.

Orihime was at _her_ desk chatting with Tatsuki.

The rest of the girls were clustered towards the back of the classroom whispering furiously. Chizuru was suspiciously absent. Rumor had it she was crying in a bathroom stall on the first floor but more reliable intelligence said that she was pining away at home in bed.

"Look," Mami whispered, "they're not looking at each other!"

As though Orihime had suddenly gained VERY acute hearing, this was immediately followed by Orihime turning in her seat to wave at Rukia. "Good morning, Rukia-chan!"

"Good morning, Inoue-san," was the polite reply.

The whispering resumed.

"Look, that's obviously fake!"

"They're totally not getting along!"

 

On the other side of the room Tatsuki rolled her eyes in disgust. "What the hell are they yammering about over there?"

"Hmmm," Orihime said, considering, "maybe it's a secret?"

"Maybe they're just a bunch of gossiping hyenas."

"Do hyenas gossip?"

"If they don't, I'm sure they would if they could."

"Well," Orihime said serenely, "it's all right. It doesn't matter what they're saying. I don't mind."

"Really?"

"Really." She looked down at her pencil case as she opened it. "I'm only waiting to hear the words of one person."

That, Tatsuki thought, was half of the problem.

 

Ichigo stared at the board first period and didn't pay attention.

Chad, of all people, had seen fit to lay out all the particulars.

While speculation was still rampant about whether Kurosaki was going out with the new transfer student Kuchiki or not, most everyone was now siding towards "not" whereas the whole grade had pretty much thought the opposite the previous week. Typical, Ichigo thought. Fickle.

Of course, that led to even _more_ speculation about whether that meant Kuchiki was "on the market" so to speak or whether there would be a development of a torrid three-sided relationship at their school to serve as general amusement for the masses?

_Don't people have anything better to do with their time?_

Apparently not.

In the corner of his eye he could see Inoue looking over at him. And if he'd turned his head a little more he could have seen the rest of the class looking at Inoue looking at him.

Rukia stared straight ahead at the teacher. But whether she was actually paying attention or not was anyone's guess.

It was a long, anticipatory morning.

The bell rang signaling the start of the lunch period. A few people debated waiting around to see if anything interesting would happen while the rest made a mad dash to the cafeteria to buy curry bread and rush back to the classroom in time to see if any fireworks had gone off in the meantime. Love and war was all well and good, but high schoolers still had to eat. But no one who stayed behind missed the look Kuchiki gave Kurosaki as she packed up her things. It was a measuring look and was immediately and endlessly misinterpreted as the look of a jilted lover, a longing glance of suppressed passion, a venomous glare of burning hatred. Oh, the possibilities were endless.

But it was a fact that Kurosaki tried to catch her after class and she shook his hand off her arm and snapped at him. That this wasn't exactly something _new_ was a fact that was easily disregarded as irrelevant. Certainly it meant something different _today_ than it had the two times last week.

Kuchiki didn't get very far before she noticed the majority of the class hanging out the classroom doorway behind them watching their interaction with glee. Disgusted, she turned away and disappeared down the hallway with the courtyard exit.

Kurosaki didn't follow her but went in an entirely different direction after an awkward good-bye to Inoue who had stepped out of the classroom at that exact moment. Seemingly unconcerned, Inoue went off with Arisawa, swinging her lunch and chattering away.

No more excitement for now. Munching their lunches, the class settled themselves in for the long haul. Things were bound to get interesting sooner or later.

 

Nothing happened for the rest of the day. The three principle players didn't even exchange any words.

That was okay. Everyone knew that Kurosaki had asked for a week to think about his answer. Time was ticking.

 

Ichigo was at a loss.

That was the simple way of putting it. As for the more complicated version . . .

He didn’t understand. Before that whole mess with Soul Society, he hadn’t even really considered Inoue a friend. She’d been Tatsuki’s best friend, and therefore a friend by default, but it wasn’t like he’d gone out of his way to hang out with her or anything . . . or even that they’d ever said all that much to one another. So, when in the world had she come to _love_ him?

_I've felt this way for a long time now._

Okay, so, it hadn’t been a recent thing and he’d just been too blind (too stupid?) to see it? But then, nobody had SAID anything about it. Tatsuki could have at least said _something_. But then, that would have been weird too, wouldn't it? Hi Ichigo. By the way Orihime's in love with you and if you make her cry I'll beat you until YOU cry. He could probably do without that.

Well, at least Keigo and Mizuiro could have been on their game. Usually they would be all over something like that AND teasing him to hell and back, but, no, all his back-ups had FAILED him until it was way too late. But why? A girl’s CRUSH. They would NEVER miss something as blatantly obviou-

Oh. And his brain slid to a grinding halt.

So it came back to that again, didn't it? Well, HER, anyway.

Rukia.

Because everyone had been SO SURE they were going out, things had ended up like this. _Great._

Briefly he wondered where the hell she was. All the other times they’d gotten into a fight since she'd been back she’d gone and stayed over at Inoue’s. But he kind of doubted that she’d done that tonight. At least he HOPED she hadn’t. But then, there was no telling where her common sense ended and her idiocy began.

But never mind Rukia.

How did he feel about Inoue?

He honestly didn't know.

What was it like to like someone? He tried putting Inoue in the place of all the girls he knew, just to try out the thought in his mind. Where did Inoue fit? If they were together, what would they DO?

His mother came to mind first. He had to admit that Inoue reminded him of his mother. She was gentle and soft-spoken and he was sure that she would probably make a good mom someday, but that was as far as the resemblance went. To Ichigo his mother was still the epitome of everything perfect and good in the world and every other person, even his family, had to take a distant second.

So fine, enough with the Oedipus complex. Did he think of Inoue like a sister? He tried to imagine treating Inoue like he did Karin and Yuzu and his mind drew another blank. He just couldn't ever imagine them arguing about his father or her telling him to put his dirty socks in the laundry or sitting around the dinner table and fighting over the choice pieces of meat. What he _could_ imagine was his father gushing over her and being completely embarrassing and Yuzu being nervous and Karin being indifferent. He just didn't know what _he_ was doing in this scenario. Kind of a problem.

Next.

That would probably be Tatsuki. She _was_ his oldest friend and while they hadn't spent too much time together lately they were still pretty close. So, sparring with Inoue and arguing with Inoue and playing arcade games with Inoue . . . Yeah, this really wasn't working, was it? The arcade games maybe. But he couldn't really think of them arguing over . . . well, anything. And sparring was definitely out. She just wasn't a violent person.

He'd better just skip Yoruichi and Matsumoto and all of the SS women altogether. It just wasn't applicable. Unless one of them died and decided to join one of the Divisions anytime soon (and not as a substitute shinigami) it was really kind of pointless. His relationship with everyone from SS wasn't exactly what he'd term "normal" anyway.

In fact, the closest relationship to normal he had with ANYONE in SS was probably his relationship with Rukia. At least she wasn't earnestly trying to kill him every time they saw one another.

This was stupid. He already knew Inoue and Rukia could never occupy the same place in his life anymore than Inoue could fill in for any of the other people he'd already thought about.

Arguing with Rukia and fighting with Rukia (he was starting to sense a trend) was ingrained in his daily routine. So was waking up at the same time and going to bed at the same time. Going to school at roughly the same time. Seeing her in class all day. Lending her his homework to copy and trying to actually cram a few facts in her head while he was at it. Sneaking her dinner. Training. Fighting Hollows. Throwing things at each other. Explaining things about the mortal world and the afterworld to each other. Getting mad at each other. Apologizing. Sometimes not apologizing. Distracting the rest of the family while she took a shower, or, damn her, a BATH of all things. Watching TV with her when no one was home and telling her that NO, she did not need to BUY-IT-NOW. Reading Shakespeare at night while she doodled badly in her sketchbook or tried to figure out what "extraneous" meant in Japanese.

He blinked. Thinking about it that way, it sounded _too_ normal when Rukia and he were anything BUT. She LIVED IN HIS CLOSET, for crying out loud. Scarily enough he didn't have any trouble imagining what every day would be like with Rukia. Not to mention the things they would say and the fights they would have . . . They were really spending too much time together. Well, whatever, he didn't have time to dwell on that right now. He had to figure out what liking a girl and being in a relationship was like.

Obviously he was going about this the _wrong_ way.

And speaking of Rukia . . . he hadn't seen her since class let out and she'd snapped at him for talking to her in front of other people. Even Rukia had gotten weird. Weirder.

 

"Hey," he said to her the next morning in homeroom. "Where were you until one in the morning last night?"

She glared at him. "Where I am is none of your business and if you haven't noticed we are UNDER SURVEILLANCE."

He glanced around at their classmates surreptitiously trying to look like they weren't straining their ears as hard as they could to hear what was being said.

"Okay, come with me."

"Absolutely not," she said firmly, tapping her homework sheets together against the desk to straighten them. He noticed they were the wrong ones. "Please go back to your desk."

"We need to talk."

"I," she pointed out, "am not the one you need to talk to."

In the corner of his vision he saw Inoue pretending just as hard as everyone else that she wasn't trying to eavesdrop. He sighed and went back to his desk.

 

"Ichigo," she hissed at him as they passed each other outside during lunch, "it's too risky to be seen together right now. We can't risk being found out."

"Huh?" What was she going off about now?

She sounded exasperated. "Shi-ni-ga-mi."

"Oh. Right." Somehow, he'd completely forgotten about that secret aspect of his life being out of the ordinary. He supposed it'd be bad if someone caught Rukia climbing in and out of his window too. "So you'll be late again tonight?"

She gave him a LOOK to watch his words and stalked off, followed by a gaggle of girls Ichigo had never even SEEN before who seemed to be asking her whether there was anything they could do for her. She ignored them.

 

The grapevine reported that Kurosaki and Kuchiki had been quietly and agitatedly conversing at 12:10. Was their alleged relationship on the rocks?

Betting ensued.

12:17. A third year known mostly for his roving hands asked Kuchiki Rukia out. All accounts had it that Kuchiki freaked out when he attempted a casual feel and punched him in the nose.

12:18. Kurosaki completely oblivious to school events. As usual.

 

Tatsuki stepped out onto the roof. It was pretty chilly up here but for once it was completely devoid of anyone at all. Well, almost anyone.

Kuchiki Rukia was leaning against the railing.

"Uh," Tatsuki said. She had gone looking for her, but now what was she supposed to say? I heard you sent some guy to the nurse's room with a broken nose? Sorry about the efficiency of the school grapevine? My best friend really likes Ichigo for some reason . . . By the way do you like him too? "Are you okay?"

She looked at her knuckles and flexed her hand. "I'm fine."

"I can't believe this place sometimes. Jerks like him just want to take advantage of you. It's good you could defend yourself. Was it awful?"

"Huh? Not particularly. His nose broke pretty easily."

"Errr." Right. Maybe she just didn't want to talk about the scarring experience. "You've, uh, seemed a little different lately?" More violent? Less cheerful?

This caught her attention. "Have I? I assure you, nothing at all has changed about me." She looked kind of nervous.

Maybe the gossip mill wasn't entirely off about the love triangle after all.

"Um, if it's about Ichigo and Orihime-"

"Don't be ridiculous. That has nothing to do with me." Something seemed a little off in her voice.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Tatsuki said. It wasn't like they were close or anything. She and Kuchiki barely exchanged more than a handful of words at any given point in time, but Tatsuki had this damnable habit of being unable to stop butting into other people's business when they looked upset. Orihime said it was what made her personality sparkle. Tatsuki thought it was just a stupidly annoying part of her character make-up.

"Yeah," Rukia said in reply, staring at her shoes. They were shiny. "Fine."

As for tact, Tatsuki could take it or leave it. This seemed like an instance that didn't merit any. Not if she wanted to get anywhere, anyway. "Are you _sure_ you and Ichigo weren't going out?"

"Me? Go out with that idiot? You have _got_ to be kidding me."

Tatsuki blinked. That was the bluntest she had ever heard the girl who was usually so freakishly polite. It was also totally something Ichigo would say. And it didn't ring true at all. "So you're fine if Ichigo goes out with Orihime?"

Rukia lifted her head to look at her wearily. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Seems like the thing to do," Tatsuki said diplomatically.

"Are YOU fine if Kurosaki-kun goes out with Inoue-san?" Rukia said in reply and Tatsuki was startled out of her complacency.

"What?"

"You heard me," Rukia said, letting her head rest on her arms, watching Tatsuki carefully. "They're both your really good friends, right? So are you okay with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"So you never liked either of them?"

"I'm not Chizuru!"

"Not what I asked."

"There's no way in hell I'd ever go out with _Ichigo_."

"Also not what I asked."

Tatsuki stared hard at the water moving in a slow muddy sludge below them. "I love them both, but not like that. And if they want to get together, that's fine. Only . . ."

"Only?"

"I want it to be for the right reasons. Because Ichigo's an idiot and Orihime's got too much invested in it. They can't go into this thing half-heartedly or it's just going to fall apart around their ears and hurt both of them. A lot."

"Because Ichigo's an idiot," Kuchiki repeated, and Tatsuki was startled again. It was the first time she had ever heard the other girl use his first name. And it sounded so _natural_. Like she’d been saying it forever.

"You should talk to him."

"About what?"

"I don't know. _Things!_ I'm sure you two have _things_ to talk about."

"No. We don’t have anything to talk about."

"The hell you don't!" Tatsuki was suddenly surprised to find herself standing and shouting. Judging by her expression Kuchiki was surprised too. But this whole thing was stupid. Tatsuki wasn't an idiot. She didn't exactly understand what the hell was going on, but she knew there was something more than Ichigo running around in black with a sword in the middle of the night. She could figure that much out. She pointed a finger down at Kuchiki and said, "I don't know all the details, but I DO know the two of you have unresolved issues! So you should deal with it! Otherwise this is all just going to turn into a bigger mess than it already is!"

Rukia brushed past her. "I think that would be a little hard to do at this point."

Tatsuki turned to see three girls from their class dash down the roof stairs ahead of Kuchiki.

"Um, sorry about . . . that."

Well, that was just great.

 

Inoue had an errand to run, Mizuiro and Keigo had classroom clean-up duty, and Chad was doing something, so Ichigo and Tatsuki found themselves leaving school together for the first time in a long time.

The back of Ichigo's neck prickled. He looked over his shoulder to see six or seven boys ranging from freshmen to seniors glaring at him from over by the school. He gave them his "not amused" look back.

Typically this was enough to cow most people. Ichigo didn't sport the friendliest expressions to begin with, after all. This time, however, they just seemed to straighten and look even more like they wanted him to march over there and beat their faces into new likenesses.

But he wasn't a violent guy. "What the hell's _their_ problem?" 

"Well," Tatsuki said, shrugging, "Orihime's pretty popular, you know."

"She is?"

Tatsuki hit him with her bag. "Don't act so surprised, you idiot! She's pretty and nice, of COURSE she's popular."

He rubbed his side and shot her a look. "I didn't mean that. I just meant if they like her so much what the hell are they pissed at ME for? It's not like I stole her away. They could've asked her out themselves."

She snorted. "And _you've_ asked out tons of girls?"

"Never been interested."

And that, Tatsuki thought, was the other half of the problem.

"Whatever, just leave them alone. They're not about to jump you in a back alley or anything."

That was true. Chizuru on the other hand, wild-haired with blood-shot red eyes, had looked like she was about to kill him this morning. BUT, she'd told him, brandishing her finger like a weapon, she wasn't about to do anything that would make 'Hime sad so she was going to let him off the hook. FOR NOW.

THAT had actually been kind of scary.

 _Almost_ as scary as Tatsuki turning to him and saying, "Ichigo, we have to talk."

 

A long walk later they still hadn't said anything to each other and he didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. He had, of course, expected Tatsuki to say something to him eventually . . . probably something that involved pain, his, and lots of it. Either that or they were having a serious talk and that made him even more wary.

They sat down by the river for lack of anywhere else to go. Karakura, he thought, was a do nothing town. You either had club activities or you hung around aimlessly by the riverbank.

Before she started speaking he knew the conversation was going to be the latter.

"You, uh, might want to apologize to Kuchiki for me if you talk to her later."

"What for?"

"Errr, just tell her I'm sorry, okay?"

Before he could ask for any more clarification she cut him off and said, "About Orihime."

His face closed up.

"Just . . . don't hurt her, Ichigo."

He buried his head under his arms. "I'm trying not to."

"Sorry. That was dumb. It's just, she's my best friend and . . . well, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

She looked at him and tried to imagine being his girlfriend. A second later she burst into laughter.

"What's so funny all of a sudden?"

"Nothing," she said, trying to choke back another laugh. "Really, nothing at all!" Her face contorted in odd ways and he watched her skeptically for another minute until she properly re-schooled her expression.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Yeah, telling me that after laughing at me _fills_ me with confidence."

"Aren't you glad I'm not in love with you too, Ichigo?"

He made a face. "Ecstatic. Or are you trying to tell me something? Should I be afraid?"

She shook her head.

"That's a relief. One girl's enough for me."

Sobering, she said, "Yeah, I think so too."

They were both silent, lost in their own thoughts.

Really, Tatsuki thought, everything that needed to be said had been. It was up to Ichigo to sort out his own feelings now. She clapped him on the shoulder and used it to rise to her feet. "Good luck figuring things out."

"Thanks," he muttered, rotating his shoulder and staring moodily off at the river.

"Hey, Ichigo?" she said, walking away.

He looked over at her. "Yeah?"

She turned halfway and said, "Try not to hurt yourself, either. 'Cause I'd beat you up for that too."

A smile quirked at his lips. "Great, more pain. 'Preciate it."

She waved, walking again. "Any time!"

 

Rukia was tired of hiding out at the park. It was COLD at night. She knocked again.

Urahara opened the door.

"'NEE-SAN!!!" Kon cried, sighting her from across the room and flinging himself at her. She repelled him with a hand and he immediately launched himself in the director of her chest again. She caught him inches before his face and cotton paws would have touched her and raised him to eye level. "Don't make me tie you up."

"'NEE-SAN, YOU'VE MISSED ME TOO!"

"Will people from your house EVER stop interrupting us in the middle of dinner?" Jinta groused. "It's enough that I have to put up with _him_ every day!" He pointed his chopsticks at Kon.

Kon growled and squirmed in Rukia's grip in reply. "Take that back, you-!"

"Things seem to be going well for you," Rukia said dropping Kon so he could scamper forward and brawl with Jinta. Ururu watched disinterestedly for a moment then stole one of Jinta's fried tofu.

"So-so." Urahara flipped his fan open and said mildly, "To what do we owe the pleasure, Kuchiki-san?"

"You owe _me_ ," she snapped. "Don't think I've forgiven you, because I haven't."

"I would never _dream_ to be so presumptuous. Though Kurosaki-kun _did_ sa-"

One look at her expression was enough to make him think better of finishing that particular sentence.

"I'm staying here from now on," she declared.

"'NEE-SAN! GOD HAS ANSWERED MY PRAYERS!" Kon shouted deliriously before being punted across the room.

Jinta emerged from his tussle with Kon scowling. "Don't we have enough freeloaders?!"

Urahara, still smiling, put a hand on the top of his head and pushed down warningly. Jinta ducked under and around, grabbed his bowl off the table, and disappeared into the backroom, kicking a table leg as he went.

"You'll have to forgive him. He's not used to having to share the attention. You can share Ururu's room." He nodded in the right direction.

"Right," Rukia said, heading over to the doorway.

"Just one question if I may," he said pleasantly. "Was it a lovers' quarrel?"

She slammed the door.

Urahara turned to the two remaining people at the table. "She must be at that age. Ururu, do try not to have too many boy troubles when you're older and pass me the rice."

 

Rukia didn't come home that night.

In fact, Rukia didn't come home at all.

Ichigo wasn't worried. He didn't care. It wasn't like he _missed_ her. He saw her everyday at school and she seemed just fine. Well, as far as he could tell.

Tatsuki's apology would have to wait.

They hadn't spoken to each other in days.

It wasn't getting to him AT ALL. Really. He meant that.

What _was_ getting to him were all the random people seeking to advise him, or console him (latest rumor was that Rukia had dumped him for a soccer player from Switzerland and THAT was why Orihime had decided to confess to him), or tell him to stay the HELL away from their darling angel Inoue Orihime or good riddance to you and KEEP STAYING AWAY from our goddess Kuchiki Rukia.

What, he thought, had he EVER done to deserve THIS?

 

Friday it rained all day and at eight at night it was still raining just as hard.

Ichigo was _certainly_ not thinking about whether Rukia was getting soaked somewhere outside during dinner. Yuzu was, however, concerned that he seemed to have lost appetite over the past week since he was no longer taking leftovers upstairs to eat while studying.

"Hey," he said, stopping in the doorway of his room.

She had frozen halfway through the window. Her hair and clothes were wet but it was her expression that had him concerned. He’d never seen that look in her eyes before.

"Get in," he said, closing the door behind him as she scampered the rest of the way inside. "Close the window. The rain's getting in."

It wasn't but she did it anyway, silently pushing the frame down until it was tight against the sill. The rain was blurring the glass. He just stood and watched her until she felt uncomfortable enough to say, "I . . . I just came by to get some things."

"What things?"

"My schoolbooks, some stuff I left in the closet . . ."

"It's the weekend. You don't need it."

"Ah, I thought I'd move in with Urahara for a bit."

"Urahara's on your shitlist."

"Well, it's true that he's not my most favorite person right now, but-"

"Enough with the bullshit," he snarled, covering the space within them in two quick strides. Damn him for those long legs! She tried to get out of his way but there was nowhere to go.

He snagged her wrist and held it against her. "What is going on?"

She looked to one side, cursing the fact that he’d backed her against the wall and there was no angle for her to knee him in the crotch and no plush defender to come to her rescue. "I just thought, with you and Inoue-"

"Is _that_ what this is about?!" he said, staring. "Me and Inoue?"

"No," she snapped, eyes still averted. "It's about you - being an idiot. She’s a nice girl so you should just go out with her already!"

"I'll make up my own mind, thanks. And what the hell difference does it make to _you_ if Inoue and I go out?!" he demanded.

She was finally looking at him again, but her expression made him kind of wish she wasn't. "For starters, it would certainly be awkward if I were to still be living in your closet, wouldn't it?!"

That gave him pause. He hadn't even considered that aspect of the situation. But still - "You don't have to move out!"

Her expression softened. He was such a child. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course I do."

"Things don’t have to change," he insisted stubbornly.

"Yes, they DO!"

Their glares were equally fierce.

"Ichigo," she said carefully, "let go of me."

"No."

"I mean it."

"And I fucking said NO."

There was a moment when there was no sound at all but their angry breathing. He didn't care if she was angry. Frankly, he didn't care if she never spoke to him again. Right here and right now he couldn't loosen his grip on her or she would be out that window. She would be gone.

He didn't stop to analyze those feelings. It didn't matter. This was instinct and instinct told him if he let her go now he would regret it.

He bent so they were nose to nose. Her eyes went so wide he couldn’t see anything else. They were close enough to feel each other’s warm breaths against their mouths.

He was suddenly, painfully, acutely aware of her the way you become aware of someone in battle. Their smell. Their presence. Their intent.

Except Rukia didn’t smell like blood or sweat or fear. And she didn’t _feel_ like an opponent. There was no killing intent. There was no rage. And what she wanted . . . what he wanted . . . it wasn’t to kill or to hurt or to be superior . . . it wasn’t any of those things at all. She was softer than he remembered. On . . . on a battlefield he thought that this kind of an encounter would be one where he could make her yield . . . if, if she wanted to.

What did she want?

She was trembling. But not the way a person did when she was afraid. Was she really that angry? If only he could figure out what she was thinking.

He inched closer and her back hit the wall, the arm he had a hold of still at an odd angle. His other hand hit the wall, palm flat, to the other side of her head and he leaned in. His legs brushed against hers and they were both suddenly very aware of something they hadn’t been a moment ago. “Ichigo,” she mumbled, unable to look him in the eyes.

Every muscle in his body was taut with tension, with the effort of holding himself perfectly still. He couldn’t move. He didn’t trust himself that far. His body was a traitor. “Yeah?”

“I-”

Lightning flashed together with an ominous rumble of thunder and the lights went off. She punched him in the stomach with her free hand. He bent over double from the force of her blow, his grip on her wrist loosening. In a flash the window was open and cold air and rain were splashing through.

The lights came back on with a flicker.

He sunk onto his bed. He was shaking and she was gone.

Fuck, he thought, staring at the ground. His gut hurt like she'd bruised his internal organs. Fuck. What the hell. What the hell had just _happened?_

He needed a shower. A COLD shower. And then he needed to bash his head against the shower stall a couple of times for good measure.

It was hormones, wasn’t it? It’d be odd if he didn’t feel anything, right? After all, she HAD been living in his closet, in his SPACE, and . . . and it had been fine. And it was only then that he realized how fricking weird it all was. Because, it wasn’t like he hadn’t known she was a . . . girl. After all, she wore his little sister’s cutesy sundresses and was gaa-gaa over bunnies and . . . and yet it hadn’t been an issue.

And now, all of a sudden, it was an issue.

 

Dammit, Ichigo! Rukia thought, dashing down the wet sidewalk, water spraying to either side of her. Her shoes were wet all the way through.

Her body was still warm from the heat radiating off him.

She paused under a streetlamp, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering from something other than the cold and the wet.

It would be funny if it were any two people other than them, at any other time than now. But Orihime was at home waiting for her answer, and Rukia was stuck in the rain unable to even ask a question, and Ichigo, Ichigo . . .

"Ichigo, you _idiot!"_

 

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*

He was freezing to death and this wasn't working.

Some part of his brain still registered the fact that girls had cooties.

The rest of him just didn't care.

Wait, he thought in sudden confusion, cold water sluicing over his shoulders. Does this mean I find her _attractive?_

He gave that thought a moment to sink in.

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*

 

"Kuchiki-san? You're soaked."

She paused long enough in the entranceway to slip off her sodden shoes and say through gritted teeth and dripping bangs, "I am taking a bath."

"My, my, my," Urahara said to himself as she disappeared into the bathroom. Kon was stealthily trying to follow her in. Ururu had already brought out the mop. Jinta rolled his eyes and mashed the buttons on his handheld video game system harder. Tessai pretended to be busy doing something.

"Well," he continued speaking to himself, closing his fan and tapping it against his chin. "Perhaps this _has_ gone on long enough."

 

Rukia exited the bathroom in a cloud of steam and paused while toweling her wet hair to look around. "What happened to Urahara and the others? And why are you here?"

"They went out on an errand."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone. The mod soul too. And I," she smiled, "come and go where and when I please."

"Uh-huh."

"Sit right here," Yoruichi said invitingly, patting the spot on the floor next to her at the table. "Let's have a drink."

Rukia eyed her, the large jug of sake, and the two brown cups on the table for a moment before brushing past. "No thanks."

"Kisuke tells me things aren't going too well with Ichigo?"

Rukia cursed herself for her quick reaction time. Yoruichi was probably smiling smugly right behind her about that hundredth of a second of hesitation in her step. "I don't know what you're talking about. Ichigo and I are just fine. Never better." Even she knew how half-hearted those last words sound.

"Hmmm, I don't think I actually mentioned _you_. Just Ichigo. Kisuke said something about Orihime making some sort of love confession? Or is there," her voice almost purred, "more to this story?"

Dammit.

"Sit," Yoruichi said casually, pouring sake into a cup and setting it on the table. It wasn't really a request.

Rukia turned on her heel, marched back to the table, knelt down without a hint of the Kuchiki grace she prided herself on, and downed the sake in one go. "Look," she snapped, setting it down on the table, "we have nothing to talk about. Nothing is going on between Ichigo and me and _nothing ever was_. I wish people would let it alone already! I don't see why I have to get mixed up in all the particulars of his love life anyway!"

"Hmmm," Yoruichi said, leaning her chin on one hand, the light from the sake bottle reflecting in her eyes. She took a sip of sake and smiled, showing the tip of one canine. "He's a virgin, you know."

"What," Rukia said, flummoxed. She didn't need to be hearing this. She didn't even WANT to hear this. "I don't care!"

Yoruichi poured her another drink. Rukia downed it without thinking, glaring at her. "What the hell makes you think that this is something I even want to KNOW?! And why the hell do _you_ kno-No, wait, never mind, I don't need to know that _either_!"

"You really don't care? But it's so much easier when they have a little experience, don't you think? Well, I suppose there's a certain advantage to breaking them in yourself . . . You Kuchiki probably have a technique for that . . . ?" She tilted her head to one side inquiringly.

"That's it," Rukia announced, trying to stand, "this conversation is over."

Unfortunately, her legs didn't seem to want to cooperate and she only got halfway before flopping back down to the ground. "I only had two cups! What's IN that?!"

"Heh, wouldn't you like to know. Secret recipe. Been in the family for generations. Have another."

Rukia still felt clearheaded if completely off-balance and she eyed the full cup handed to her with suspicion. What the hell, if she was forced to stay here and listen to Yoruichi talk about Ichigo's sexual experience she was probably going to need to be a little less than sober. She downed it then grabbed the jug and poured herself a refill. "This," she said, gesturing at Yoruichi, "is not going to work. This is a stupid plan because I happen to hold my sake like a Kuchiki. Not to mention, there's nothing to tell!"

"Hmm."

 

If his night wasn't going badly enough already his badge sounding off around midnight certainly wasn't making it any better. It was now three AM and he was beginning to wonder if Inoue and the Hollows and Rukia were all secretly working together to drive him over the edge.

A block from his house his badge went off again.

"Goddammit!"

 

 _"Ishigo's an idiot!"_ Rukia slurred drunkenly, pounding her fist against the table.

"Ahahaha!" Yoruichi laughed. "Tell me something I don't know!"

"Like whuh . . . what? You're the one who knows he'ssa virgi . . . virhymnal . . . chaste thing."

"Oh," Yoruichi said, dismissively, refilling both their cups, "that. That's nothing. He saw me naked and blushed so red I almost mistook him for a tomato. It's been a long time since I saw something so funny."

"You know," Rukia said, "I am complebly disinnerested in the fact that shumhow you were dancing nekkid in front of Ishigo."

"I didn't say anything about dancing." Yoruichi smiled. "Never fear, young Kuchiki. That boy might as well have "Never been opened" stamped on his forehead. Next time you want him to back down in an argument, I'd advise flashing him."

"Hah," Rukia said, raising her head enough to knock back her drink. "I prefer kicksh to tha head. He'sh gonna haf prob . . . prob . . . trouble with Inoue then . . . girl's almos' as built as Matsumoto!"

"There's a thought," Yoruichi mused. "Put those three together and Ichigo would probably expire from fright. We should do it. I'll borrow a video camera from Kisuke. Yachiru can play it at Female Shingami Association meetings. "The Spontaneous Combustion of Kurosaki Ichigo."" She glanced over at Rukia who was staring morosely at the tabletop, her chin barely propping her head up. "So he's really going to accept Orihime-chan's confession then?"

"I guessh. I don' care. He can do whateva he wansh."

"Do you really not care?"

"Hah," Rukia said, smiling drunkenly. "You're not getting me that eashaly. I'm not drunk enuff fer that! Ishigo can do whateva he wansh. I'm not in love w'him or anyshing. I don' care if he . . . if he MARRIESH HER! Sh'none of my biznesh!

"Really," Yoruichi said, lifting an eyebrow. "What if I said he was really, really good in bed?"

"Liar," Rukia said, laughing. "You already told me he wash a virhymn. 'Shides he'sh got no clue. Ishigo hash probably never even kished a girl!"

"Oh," Yoruichi said, careful to say it as lightly as possible, "what makes you say that?"

"Heh. 'Nother round."

 

His life was a mess, he was an angsty ball of, well, teenage angst, AND THE HOLLOWS COULDN’T TAKE ONE NIGHT OFF.

"I am NOT in the mood," he snarled, slicing through Hollow number three with a one-handed maneuver. Hollows were more of an annoyance than anything else these days but he still had to get rid of them. It came with the black uniform and the uncomfortable geta and the big honkin' sword.

Speaking of which.

"Want to talk?"

"To you?" Ichigo said, eyeing Zangetsu. What the hell, now his SWORD wanted to give him love advice? "No. Really, thanks but no."

"Kurosaki, are you feeling all right?"

Ichigo glanced up to see Ishida, looked back down at his sword and muttered, "Sorry, Zangetsu, 'nother time."

"Kurosaki?" Huh, Ichigo thought. So that was what Ishida looked like when he was wondering if Ichigo had temporarily misplaced all his marbles.

"Yo, Ishida!" he said enthusiastically and hoped the words didn't sound as forced to Ishida as he did him. He stuck Zangetsu point downward into the ground and attempted to lead casually against the hilt. "Come to watch me at work?”

"Not really."

"Shoot the breeze?"

"Not really."

"Take care of any remaining Hollows so I can go back to bed?"

"Not really."

Damn it, Ishida. Help a guy out, wouldja?

"Tell me not to hurt Inoue or you'll rip out my still beating heart?" Ichigo said cheerfully.

". . . maybe."

Ichigo put a hand to his forehead before pulling up his sword. He sat down on the edge of the park fountain and made vague motions in the air with Zangetsu in Ishida's direction. "Have a seat."

With some difficulty Ishida managed to say, "I heard about what happened with . . . Inoue-san," without sounding overly strained.

"Yeah, you and the rest of the whole damn school. I'm just lucky my DAD hasn't heard. Actually, the way tonight's going the minute I get home I'm going to find him throwing my empty body some kind of party. Huh, Kon moving out is _actually_ kind of inconvenient. Never thought I'd say that."

But Ishida didn't seem too interested in the life of a substitute shinigami sans mod soul. "I guess you're here to talk about Inoue."

Ishida started. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, everyone ELSE is. Either they want me to go away – permanently - OR they have some kind of stupid advice to offer me OR it's the "you'd better not hurt her" spiel. Unless you want to talk about Rukia instead? There were a couple of those too."

Ishida made some sort of noncommittal noise that Ichigo took to mean "no."

"What's it like to be in love, Ishida?"

For one horrifying instant Ishida thought Kurosaki had seen right through him . . . but then he realized that Kurosaki was posing an earnest question and boggled even more at that. "Um, it's different for everybody, I think. Why . . . are you wrapping that thing up?"

"Keeps me from cutting myself by accident," Ichigo said diffidently from which Ishida drew his own conclusions and winced. "Okay, here's another question," he said, twining more bandages around Zangetsu, "what's it like to be attracted to somebody?"

"You mean you've never been attracted to anybody?" Ishida raised an eyebrow.

"You're saying you have?"

"Of course!"

"I mean someone you know. Not, like, a cute celebrity or something."

"I know that," Ishida snapped. Did Kurosaki have the emotional maturity of a grade schooler?

"Huh, so even you've liked somebody, Ishida?"

" _'Even you?'_ What's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

"Errr, nothing, nothing. That came out wrong." The last thing he needed was to get the Quincy self-righteously pissed at him. He had enough on his plate already without stirring up any more trouble for himself.

"So have you been attracted to someone or not?" Ishida asked him dryly, adjusting his spectacles.

"I'm kind of . . . not sure?"

Ishida pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're . . . not sure." Grade school for sure. Maybe not even.

"Well, it's the first time it's ever happened!" he said defensively.

"The first time _what_ happened?"

Ichigo mumbled.

"What?"

"The first time I've ever really noticed a girl, I . . . I guess. I mean, in that way. And it's not like I've never seen her before or anything. Since I met her I guess she's always been . . . an important part of my life. But I never really thought . . . I mean, I definitely don't like her or anything and she's the same, but . . ." He ground to a stop.

"Who are you talking about, Kurosaki?" Ishida asked quietly.

"Hell if I know," Ichigo said, standing and sliding Zangetsu into its spot on his back.

"If it's . . ." He stopped. Ichigo was looking at him blankly and Ishida remembered that Kurosaki was a moron who was more likely to deny the existence of the moon than admit that was the reason he didn't like the sun. So he settled for: "Don't lead Inoue on."

"Yeah. You don’t have to tell me. Everyone else already has."

 

"So? Any progress?"

"Eh."

"My home life is getting quite unpleasant. I'm not quite ready to welcome such a high-strung teenage daughter into the family. It's upsetting my delicate happy equilibrium."

"To sum up, Ichigo is an idiot ad infinitum, not to mention a virgin, Orihime is a very nice girl, Renji is a terrible kisser, and Byakuya secretly has a sweet tooth, the last of which is only pertinent information when you consider how much Yachiru will dip into the Female Shinigami Association's treasury to pay you for it."

"We were gone for five hours and that's all you got out of her?" Urahara said with a raised brow. "You're losing your touch."

"She's got an iron constitution for a Kuchiki. It must be because she's adopted. The Kuchiki clan, as you well know, cannot hold their liquor."

"It's a pity that little known fact didn't help us any here."

She wagged a finger at him. "I did say the Kuchiki _clan_ can't hold its liquor, didn't I? It's all about reading between the lines, Kisuke."

She swirled the sake in her cup, her eyelids half-lowered over her eyes. "Kuchiki Rukia is not in love with Kurosaki Ichigo. She has never felt anything for Kurosaki Ichigo. In fact, she doesn't even consider Kurosaki Ichigo a friend! And she most certainly was never, ever, _ever_ attracted to Kurosaki Ichigo. _Ever_. And of course, he has never, ever, ever, _ever_ been rather blatantly attracted to her. And no, she has never heard of this English expression involving some Egyptian river. In fact, she failed English last semester quite spectacularly. Useless language. Ichigo likes it a lot. Thus, she must hate it. Because there will be no unintentional mutual liking. Of anything. And did I mention Inoue Orihime is a very nice girl who deserves far better than that idiot Ichigo? He should make up his mind already."

He flicked open his fan. "Make up his mind, indeed."

"I kind of miss being that age. I remember you were quite the idiot."

"Your memory is faulty."

"Must be my age catching up to me. To the young, Kisuke," she said, passing him Rukia's cup of sake.

"To the young," Urahara repeated, clinking their cups above the dark head.

"Ichigo . . ." Rukia mumbled, her face against the table, ". . . idiot."

 

Ichigo stumbled into his bedroom at four in the morning only to be greeted with the sight of his body sitting up and waiting for him. He groaned. Now what?

"I've been waiting for you, Ichigo."

"Kon? Are you moving back?"

"I most certainly am NOT! Who would want to live with someone as despicable as you, anyway! It's no wonder 'Nee-san left to live with us!"

"Keep your voice down. Everyone's asleep, you dumbass!"

Kon huffed. "I just came to tell you that 'Nee-san is crying over you!"

"No, she's not."

"She COULD be. If you didn't suck!"

"Get the hell out of my body and go home."

"Stop making things difficult for 'Nee-san and make up your damn mind, Ichigo!"

"How the hell am _I_ making things difficult for Rukia?!"

"You're an idiot, aren't you?!" Kon groused. "You have a goddess in love with you and you have 'Nee-san by your side everyday, but are you grateful at all?! NO. You should apologize for whatever you did to 'Nee-san! Before she hates you!"

"Stop babbling. Go back to Urahara's."

"Fine," Kon said, staring at him. "But in this world _you_ are the only place 'Nee-san has to go back to. And don't you forget it!"

"Okay," he said. "I won't."

 

Inoue was waiting for him at the spot they'd agreed upon.

She had come a whole hour early. Because, she'd thought at the time, no matter what happens, this is the first morning of the rest of my life. So I should be early. She had pressed her hands together as though in prayer and pressed them against her lips, shutting her eyes.

"It's going to be okay! No matter what!"

Tatsuki had offered to go with her but she had refused quite firmly. "Ehehe. Don't worry, Tatsuki-chan, I'm prepared for anything."

Her best friend doubted that but let her go anyway. There was nothing else she could do for the girl.

 

He showed up right on time and her breath caught in her throat. She tried to smile but it faltered a little under his eyes. "Good morning, Kurosaki-kun."

"Good morning."

She looked at him carefully. She knew him so well . . . she didn't even need to look to know what it was. "You have an answer for me, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, Inoue. I just don't know how to be in love with somebody."

"It doesn’t mean what you think it does," she said quietly, her fingers linking behind her back. "Everybody's love is different. For some it's 'the person I want to protect.' For others it's 'the person I can't be without.'"

She shut her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and smiled. "Well, I understand."

"I'm sorry," he said again. It was all just so damned inadequate.

She shook her head. "I'm not. Thank you . . . for being the one I love."

She bowed once before turning to go. He stood for a long time watching her dwindling figure moving further and further away. When he could no longer see her he began walking.

 

Tatsuki might have had the good sense to back off, but Ishida was well aware that in certain matters his common sense was completely lacking. One of these, shelved right next to Pride of the Quincy, was prominently labeled: Inoue Orihime.

So it was entirely possible he had been following her from the time she left her house that morning.

It was _also_ entirely possible that he was shadowing now her from the cover of the tree line. He felt pathetic but he couldn't help but worry about her after Kurosaki had proven to have no taste at all, damn him. On the other hand, he had to admit that his first reaction was to be ridiculously, selfishly glad. Which, of course, made him feel even _more_ pathetic, but really, once you resorted to _stalking_ a girl to see whether her love confession was accepted or not, how much lower could you really go?

Her head was down, framed by her long hair. He couldn't see her face. Her pace quickened abruptly and he sped up to match her.

Screw it, he thought, and moving towards her, called out, "Inoue-san!"

She stopped in a swaying of skirts and hair and limbs and for an instant he thought she was going to topple over, but instead she said, not looking at him, "Hello, Ishida-kun." Her voice sounded normal. He knew better.

"Inoue-san, are you . . . are you all right?"

"Hmmm? Yes, I'm just fine."

"Inoue."

"I-I guess maybe you saw what happened with Kurosaki-kun. It's okay. I'm fine! Full of energy."

She shaded her eyes against the sun. "Wow, it's so bright today!"

"Inoue-san . . ." Ishida said, stepping closer.

"It's so bright it's . . . making my eyes water," she said, turning her back to him and swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Inoue," Ishida said, stepping round even as she turned with him like a planet and its satellite in synchronous orbit - but he was nothing if not persistent - until he was in front of her and putting his hands awkwardly around her shoulders. She leaned forward into his chest. "I must have dust in my ey-"

"Shhhh. You don't have to be strong anymore, Inoue-san."

Slowly, the sobs spilled out until her shoulders shook with the force of them. He thought they were going to tear her apart and him with her. Finally they slowed to soft hiccups and she managed to murmur, “Sorry, Ishida-kun. Your shirt-”

"You've always been watching Kurosaki, haven't you?"

She nodded against his chest. "It's . . . pretty obvious, huh?"

He felt something tight in his chest, squeezing like a vise, until the words flew out and he found himself saying and kicking himself as he did so, "No, it's . . . Just like you’ve always been watching Kurosaki . . . I have always been watching you." _Idiot,_ he thought in horror. _You're an IDIOT. What a thing to say. Now is not the time._ NEVER _is the time._

". . . rry. I'm sorry, Ishida-kun," she said and he felt as though someone had drop-kicked his heart into a wastepaper basket.

"No! I'm sorry, Inoue-san. It was wrong of me to burden you with my selfishness. I shouldn't have-" He found his mouth covered by the tips of her fingers and could only think shakily, his mind quivering like jello, _Inoue's fingers are touching my lips._

". . . you're going to have to give me a little time. Can . . . can you let me go on loving him like this for just a little longer?"

He saw her eyes clearly. Her tears. _I want to keep on loving him for just a little longer._

"And then . . . I can think about my answer. Will you wait?" She pulled her hand away and he grabbed it suddenly, earnestly, in his own.

"O-okay, Inoue-san," he whispered, too stunned to say anything more.

She rubbed at her tearstained face then rested her cheek back against his chest. "Mmm," she said quietly, shutting her eyes, "your heart, Ishida-kun, beats really loud."

 

He went to Urahara's but she wasn't there. (Kon didn't seem too pleased to see him. Ungrateful bastard. He hadn't even dropped his plushie body out the window but had kicked him out the front door.) She certainly wasn't back at home.

Ichigo found her at the riverbank.

"I didn't know you liked the water," he said.

"I don't really," she mumbled, throwing a twig into the gently flowing river. "My head hurts like hell, though. At least it's quiet here. Goddamned secret sake recipe."

Wisely, he decided asking might land him with his _own_ headache courtesy of Rukia's foot to the head so he said nothing.

"Shouldn't you be with Inoue?" she muttered, wincing and holding a hand to her head.

"Not really."

She turned to look at him incredulously. "You turned her down? You're a fool, Ichigo. She's too good for you."

He shrugged. "Maybe that's why."

"Don't be stupid. We both know you don't have enough sense to make your decisions that way."

"I figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

"That I'm not in love with her."

"Oh."

There was nothing much else to say.

Well, there was one thing.

"The other night," he said, the words like aliens marching across his tongue, slow and inexorable and SO, SOO WEIRD.

"Mm."

"It . . . I . . . I don't know what happened. That is . . . I'm sorry."

"Forget it."

"What? But-"

"I said forget it," she said, sighing. "You're an idiot. I already knew that."

He wanted to argue, but he didn't really know what he could possibly argue about. Besides, if she wasn't angry that was good enough. Really. He tried to convince himself that he meant that.

After all, that had completely been some whacked out one-time affair. It wasn’t like he was currently acutely aware of the line of her throat or anything. And the fact that sitting in the grass had hiked her skirt up a good two inches. And . . . fuck it. It was still going to be an issue, wasn’t it? He’d just shower. A lot. And . . . go jogging or something. Training! He could do training! Until he was too tired to see straight much less, uh, think about anything. She was his friend, wasn't she, and he’d be damned if he let this get in the way of their friendship because that was just stupid. He’d MAKE IT WORK. SOMEHOW.

"I've got too much space in my closet," he said abruptly.

"What?" She blinked.

"It's pretty empty right now. And winter's just around the corner so we'll be using the bedding we keeping in there. There's probably enough room to store a couple of dead bodies."

She eyed him. "Haha. Cute."

He rolled his eyes. "Your body's artificial, not dead." He wished they could get off this subject. It was a very nice artificial body, but he REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT ANY MORE THAN STRICTLY NECESSARY. "Look, will you just . . . move back in?”

"Okay."

Well, that had been easy.

She looked at him as though to say, _I know what you’re thinking, dumbass_. “But only because it’s a PAIN to live at Urahara’s. And Kon’s been nagging me about running away to the tropics with him. It’s not like I _missed_ you or anything.”

"Yeah. Right."

"'Cause it’s not like you missed _me_ , either."

"'Course not."

The awkward silence stretched on, both of them doing their level best not to look at one another.

"Ru-"

"Ahh!" she said quickly, flopping back against the grass. "Do you think that cloud looks like Chappy?"

He looked at where her finger was pointing. "No. What the hell are you seeing the world through? A kaleidoscope?"

"Rose-tinted glasses," she sang carelessly, "like in the movies. Hey, does that one look like Matsumoto’s cleavage?"

He turned bright red. "The hell if I'd know!"

"Looks like Yoruichi was right!" She smothered a laugh and he didn't even care it was at his expense (or that apparently Rukia and Yoruichi had been talking about him in relation to cleavage and Matsumoto or _worse_ , which was just _disturbing_ ).

"A mountain," she said, still looking at the sky. "A whale."

"Idiot. That's a camel."

"Who's the idiot? It's definitely a whale." She tilted her head. "Well, maybe it's a – no, it's still a whale."

 _Huh,_ he thought lying back in the grass himself, _maybe Orihime had it right after all._ He could feel the tips of Rukia's outstretched fingers a hairsbreadth from his arm. The sky stretched out endlessly above them.

_If there's one person I want standing next to me . . . it's going to be you._

". . . maybe I missed you a little."

"Idiot." And then, to take the sting away, she shut her eyes and said, "Me too."

**Author's Note:**

> "So," Keigo greeted him happily the next morning, "you ARE going out with Kuchiki!"
> 
> Life, Ichigo thought, was a funny thing. Too bad Keigo's had been so short.


End file.
